Moriarty coaching legend Bailey has died

Joe Bailey was one of the rarest of high school coaches. He belonged to multiple halls of fame.

The longtime and immensely popular Moriarty track and field coach, one of the state’s coaching pillars and with a 40-plus-years record of coaching and teaching in New Mexico, died on Sept. 20.

Bailey was 65.

“He’s one of the best men you could ever know,” said Gary Tripp, who worked alongside Bailey as a coach and Moriarty athletic director and knew Bailey for four decades. “He always had a saying, he wanted to be the coach that his own daughters would want to have. … He was always that kind of guy that did the right thing, even when nobody was looking. And he always preached that to our kids.”

Bailey had been battling cancer the last two years. He died on Friday.

Bailey belongs to the New Mexico Cross Country & Track and Field Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He belongs to the Moriarty High Athletics Hall of Fame (he was inducted last year), and he was inducted into the New Mexico High School Coaches Association Hall of Honor in June of this year. He also received numerous other coaching honors in his distinguished career.

“He was a great guy,” said an emotional Tim Flores, who cited Bailey as his mentor when the two men coached track at Moriarty from 1993-2000. “Talk about somebody who was always positive. He was even keeled, great with kids and great with ethics.”

Bailey began his coaching career in 1981 at Tucumcari. He began coaching in Moriarty in 1984. He served in multiple capacities with the Pintos, including head girls basketball coach and athletic director.

Moriarty won two girls state track titles under Bailey, in 1999 and 2001, and they were top three in the state in 1998 and 2000. He coached 39 individual state champions in that sport. He also was an assistant coach to Bob McIntyre when the Pintos won a girls basketball championship in 1997.

He was a head coach in Moriarty from 1984-2019; he retired, but came back and served as an assistant track coach the last couple of seasons.

“He walked the talk,” Flores said. “He got it done. His way.”

Bailey, who was born in Fort Sumner, attended Fort Sumner High and New Mexico State. He is survived by his wife of 41 years, Jill, plus daughters JoJo, Jana and Jacki.

“He was a great family man. I think that was his greatest legacy,” Flores said.

A celebration of his life will be held Saturday at the Moriarty High gym at 11 a.m., to be followed by a family-only graveside service. But family and friends are invited to a reception at the Moriarty High Commons starting at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.

In lieu of flowers or gifts, the Bailey family is asking that anyone interested in making a gesture consider donating to the Moriarty athletics department at P.O. Box 2000, Moriarty, 87035.